There are two ways, sahib. One way leads from the burned-out
barracks to the cellar where the women lie hidden. That way is closed
by debris. The other way leads from the outer wall by a very winding
route to the cellar where the women are. The fakir knows that way,
and I do not, though I know of it. There is a third way, though,
that leads from the outer wall, where I have been exploring, straight
almost, if you disregard a wind or two, to the inside of the powder-
magazine. It enters the magazine through a doorway secretly contrived
in an upright pillar--or so the fakir swears. Now this is my notion,
sahib. If we go in by the lower way, we must come out that way, and
run the risk of being caught as we emerge. That risk will be greatly
enhanced when we have frightened women with us whose eyes have been
blinded by the darkness. But, if we go in by the upper way, and
enter the magazine itself, I can make the fakir show us how to lift
the stone trapdoor I spoke of--the one that I closed when I hid the
women. Then I can ascend with him, and with say four men, while
you ascend to the platform at the top with the remainder of the men,
and guard our rear and our exit.
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